The legislation hasn't been submitted in Congress yet, but the fight over the Employee Free Choice Act in Maine is ramping up quickly.

Yesterday, Congressman Mike Michaud, labor leaders and top Democrats in the legislature gathered at the Capitol to highlight a new study from the Center for American Progress that predicts a 5% increase in union membership would lead to an infusion of $77 million into Maine's economy.

WLBZ has footage from that event as well as a press conference held by Maine business lobby leaders the day before:

Passage of this legislation will likely require the votes of at least one of a small group of moderate Republican senators, which includes Maine's Snowe and Collins. After a barrage of anti-union ads during the last elections, both senators have voiced their opposition to the EFCA, but groups both for and against the bill obviously think there's a chance one of them will change their mind or could be convinced to vote for an amended version.

A labor advocacy group has announced a $5 million advertising blitz beginning today on national cable and in certain key states, including Maine, in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The ad from American Rights at Work accuses Senator Susan Collins of "siding with wealthy CEOs over working families." Thanks to Josh Goldstein, the group's press secretary, for sending over the Maine version of the ad.

I spent about 4 hours driving through eastern and central Maine today. The most common political ad seems to be the AFL-CIO response to the anti-EFCA ads. The commercial calls Susan Collins a typical politician and faults her for voting for the Energy Bill and for unrestricted trade with China.

I also caught this week's Maine Watch, which takes an in-depth look at the Tax Foundation's rankings and at state taxes in Maine in general.

Most interesting to me was a statement by Scott Moody of the Maine Heritage Policy Center. He repeatedly asserted that their organization didn't care which taxes were lowered and on who, just so long as taxes in the aggregate went down. Considering how much their organization focuses on the tax burden, I would have thought they'd have some sort of plan about which taxes were most detrimental and should be decreased first.

Maine Blogs

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